After announcing the starting prices for the new mobile telephony spectra bid, the Romanian National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM)  indicated that what will be the largest spectrum auction in Romania's history could be settled by October, when the winners and the amounts paid will be known.

ANCOM will hold an Advisory Council meeting to finalize the documents for public consultation on the spectrum auction to be held this year for the allocation of the radio frequencies in the 800, 900, 1800 and 2600 Mhz bands.

ANCOM has set out a timetable for the bid. Tender specification and usage tariffs are to be published by July 2, from which time candidates will have six weeks to submit tenders for the bid. Following a week long review of the tenders, ANCOM will announce the candidates who have qualified for the next stage and after a further four weeks the auction proper will begin. The duration of the auction will depend on the number of rounds necessary to select the winners, but ANCOM expects to announce the results in October.

ANCOM will award long term licenses (15 years, valid until April 2029) and short-term licenses (one year and three months, valid until April 2014). For long term licenses, ANCOM will auction 42 blocks of 5 MHz pairs, of which 6 are in the 800 MHz band, 7 in 900 MHz, 15 in the 1800 Mhz band and 14 in the 2600 Mhz band. Also available are 3 blocks of 15 MHz unpaired in the 2600 MHz band. These licenses will be granted with effect from 6 April 2014. For short-term licenses, ANCOM will auction 10 blocks of 2.5 MHz pairs in the 900 MHz bandwidth and 6 blocks of 5 MHz pairs in the 1800 Mhz band, currently used by Orange and Vodafone.

The starting prices were already established by a Government decision. Blocks valid for 15 years in the  800 MHZ band will have a minimum price of EUR 35 million, those in the 900 Mhz band start at EUR 40 million, EUR 10 million per block in the 1800 Mhz band  and EUR 4 million and EUR 3 million per block pair and unpaired block in the 2600 Mhz band. For short term licenses, starting values ​​were set at EUR 1.7 million in 900 MHz band and EUR 0.8 million in the 1800 Mhz band.

The cost for participating in the auction was set at RON 4,500 ( around EUR 1,000 ) and relevant documents were published on the ANCOM site.

Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com